After 10 participations in the group stages of the biggest European competitions, Karabagh finally made a historic breakthrough this season, as they reached the round of XNUMX for the first time - in the Europa League, and were on the threshold of a sensation in the first of two matches against Bundesliga leader Bayer Leverkusen.
However, the Montenegrin national team Marko Vešović i Marko Janković, in compensatory time, she dropped a sensational victory over a team that has been in a streak of 36 games without defeat since the start of the season. Reservist Patrick Schick scored in Baku for a draw in the second minute of stoppage time (2:2).
The second leg of the eight matches of the Europa League is tonight, and the eyes of Montenegrin fans in the second European competition in terms of quality will be on the "Bay Arena", precisely because of two of our standard representatives and players with the status of icons in Azerbaijan. Deservedly, and if he is Brazilian Juninja led the team against Bayer, the fans gave Janković two new nicknames - "tank" and "dunes" for his epic success with Braga and the victory with a lesser player.
- It won't be easy, even though we are playing the second leg at our stadium. Karabagh is an excellent and brilliantly managed team, and I believe that the chances of advancing to the quarterfinals are equal - he said Xabi Alonso, Bayer coach.
And that cannot be dismissed as a polite announcement, because Karabagh was the better team for an hour, and the coach Gurban Gurbanov underwent training in the winter months precisely at the headquarters of Ćabi Alonso and the Bajera camp. At that time, neither of the two experts could have guessed that soon their teams would find themselves on opposite sides.
Besides that, there will be many more uncertain and exciting matches. Rangers drew identically at Luža with Benfica, Atalanta also drew in Lisbon, but against Sporting (1:1), and West Ham lost 1:0 in Freiburg.
It will be a bit easier for Milan in Prague because they have a 4:2 advantage, although Slavia threatened even with one less player at San Siro. Another club from Prague, Sparta, has nothing to look forward to at "Anfield" after a 5:1 loss to Liverpool at home. Brighton against Roma, and Villarreal against Marseille enter the second leg after identical defeats of 4:0.
The second leg of the round of 4 in the Conference League will take place today, Aston Villa played a goalless away game against Ajax in the derby, and Olympiakos was outclassed by Maccabi Tel Aviv 1:XNUMX at home. Our captain Stevan jovetić was on the field of "Karaiskaki" from the 77th minute, but he failed to start his teammates. Dinamo broke PAOK's tradition of 22 games without defeat in meetings with the "big four" of Yugoslav football, and the Zagreb "blues" will defend their 2:0 victory in Thessaloniki.
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